The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-07-07
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Sports Of the Chase as Illustrative
of the Truths of the Gospel
Faith and Personal Conservation the
Weapons Needed for the Capture OF
Lost souls-The sinners
Death Leap.

~
which to illustrate the pursuit and capt
ture Of mems souls for Christ His text
was:
he was \ mighty hunter before the Lord
Genesis x,a
Mr.. Tslmage said:
In our day, hunting is a sport; but In
the lands and the times infested with
wild beasts, IL was a matter of life or
death with the people. 1t was very diff
ferent from going out on a sunshiny after.
noon with a patent breech- loader, To
shoot reed-birds on the FATS, when
Achilles and Diomedes went out to clear
the land of lions and tigers and beare.
My text sets forth Nimrod as d hero
when 1t presents him with broad shout.
ders, and shaggy apparel and sun.
muscle-'a mighty hunter before the
Lord"
l think he used the bow and arrow
with great su ccess practicing archery.
have thought if it is such a grand
thing and such a brave thing to clear wild
beasts out OF a country, if it Is not bet
ter and Drawer thing TO hunt down ard
destroy those great evils of society that
are stalking the land with fierce eye, and
bloody paw, and sharp tusk, and
quick spring. have wondered II
there is not such thing as gos-
pei hunting, by which those who have
been flying from the truth may be capt
ured for God and Heaven. The LORD
Jesus - his sermon used the art OF
angling tor an illustration when he saidi
Iwill make you fishers OF men.
And so I think I have authority for
using hun ting as an illustration of gos pei
truth, and pray God that there may be
many man in this congregation who
shall begin to study gospel archery, of
whom 1t may after awhile be said: He
was mighty hunter before the Lord"
How much awkward Christian work
there is done in the world How many
good people there are who drive souls
away from Christ, instead of bringing
them 10 him!-religious blunderers who
upset more than they right Their gun has
crooked barrel and kicks as it goes off
They are like a clumsy comrade who goes
along with skillful hunters; at the very
moment be ought to be most quiet he is
cracking an alder or falling over log,
and frightening away the game. How
few Christian people have lever learned
the lesson of which | read at the begin
ming of the service-how that the Lord
Jesus Christ at the wen went from talk
ing about a cup of water TO the most prac-
III dl Itl4 NUS IT tLS, Nlltu Won lHt WOIIl.
ans soul fort God! Jesus in the wilderness
was breaking bread to the people. twas
good broad it was very light bread, and
the yeast had done its work thorou yhly.
Christ, after he had broken the bread,
said to the peop'":
Beware of the yeast or of the heaven Of the
Pharisees
So natural a transition ii was; and how
easily they all understood him. But how
few Christian people who understand how
TO fasten the truths of CD and reh gion
10 the souls CT menl Truman Osborne,
one Of the evangelists who went through
this country some years ago, had won
derMl art in the right direction. He
came to my fathers house one day, and
while we were all seated in the room, he
said:
"Mr. Talmage, are all your children
Christians1"
Father said; ''Yes, all but D Witt"
Then Truman Osborne looked down into
the fire place, and began to tell story of
storm that came on the mountains, and
all the sheep were in the fold; but there
was one lamb outside that persisted in the
storm Had he looked me in the eve,
should have been angered when he told
me that story; but he looked into the fire.
place, and it was so pathetically and
beautifully done that l never found any
peace until ! was sure l was inside the
fold, where the other sheep are.
The archers of old times studied their
art They were very precise in the mat
ter. The old books gave special directions
IS to how the archer should go and as to
what an archer sloull do. He must
staHd erect and firm, his left foot little
m advance of his right foot. With his left
hand he must take hold of the bow in the
middle, and then with the three fingers
and the thumb of his right hand he
should Law hold Of the arrow and afix it TO
the string-so precise was the direction
given. But how clumsy we are about re-
ligious work How little skill and care
we exercise! How often our arrows miss
the mark! Oh, that we might learn the
art of doing good and become "mghty
hunters before the Lordr'
In the first place, if you want to be eff
fectual in doing good, you must be very
s3re of your weapon. There was some
thing very fascinating about the archery
Of olden times Perhaps youdo not know
what they could do with the bow and ar
row. Why the chief battles fought by
the English Plantagenets were with the
long bow. They could take the arrow of
polished wood, feather it with the plume
of bird, and then 1t would fly from the
bow-string of plated silk. The broad
fields of Agincourt, and Solway Moss,
and Neville's Cross, heard the loud thrum
of the archer's bowstring.
Now, my Christian friends, we have a
mightier weapon than chat 1t is the ar
row of the Gospel; it is a sharp arrow;
it is straight arrow; it is feathered
from the wing of the dove of Gods spirit;
it flies from a bow made out of the wood
Sc the cross. AS far as | can estim ate it
has brought down 100000 900 souls. Paul
knew how to bring the notch of that ar
row onto that bow-string, and its whir
was heard through the Corr thian
theaters, and through the court
room, until the knees of Felix
knocked together. 1t was that arrow
that stuck in Luther's heart when he
cried out: "Oh, my sins! Oh, my SINS p
If it strike man in the head, 1t kills his
skepticism; If it strike him in the heel, it
turns his step; if 1t strike him in the
heart, he throws up his hands, as did one
of old when wounded in the battle, cry
ing; "Oh, Galilean, Thou hast con-
quered."
In the armory of the Earl of Pembroke
there are old corslets which show that
the arrow Of the English used to go
through the breastplate, through the
body of the warrior, and out through the
backplate. What a symbol of that Cos
pei which is sharper than a twO-edeged
sword, piercing to dividing asunder of soul
and body, and of the joints and marrow.
VA a hoA faith fhat